String music with an exciting fusion of musical styles

One of the defining qualities of the music published by Promethean Editions is the exciting fusion of different musical styles that can be heard in the works of its published composers. Looking outward from the Western classical tradition, these composers broaden their stylistic horizons by partnering the traditional with the modern – or ancient – to create challenging, exciting contemporary classical works. Composer Christos Hatzis draws inspiration from the throat singing of Canada’s Inuit culture, the microtonal subtleties of ancient Middle Eastern music, and elements of his own Greek musical heritage. Like Hatzis, John Psathas is also known for incorporating elements of Greek music, while other string works give a nod to gypsy-style performance and even Tibetan Buddhist philosophy. Gareth Farr’s music has long been influenced by the interlocking rhythmic character of Indonesia’s gamelan music, while inspiration also comes from New Zealand’s Māori legends. Canada’s Vincent Ho finds inspiration in other art forms in modern culture – such as paintings by Edward Hopper and Luc Leestemaker – his music becoming an expression of his reactions to these visual provocations.

In reflecting this broad range of influences and styles, works for string instruments in the Promethean Editions catalogue cover virtuosic works for solo and accompanied violin, works which utilize the exquisite and expressive voice of the cello, and refreshing contemporary works for string quartet.

Virtuoso Violin Encores

Coming To (2010) by Hatzis for violin and piano was commissioned by three-time Grammy Award-winning violinist Hilary Hahn, and appears on Hahn's landmark recording project In 27 Pieces: The Hilary Hahn Encores, released by Deutsche Grammophon (0289 479 1725). Accordingly, this short work incorporates the expressivity, dynamism and dexterity typical of Hatzis’s writing for string instruments, and provides violinists with an opportunity to demonstrate that their musicianship is of the highest calibre. An enjoyable journey from subdued microtonal meanderings to dramatic lyricism, with frequent intermingling of the two states, Coming To has been hailed as a 'real crowd-pleaser… alternating between airy lyricism and furious gypsy-like passion.’

Dystopia (2010) for solo violin was also written especially for Hahn. Hatzis looks beyond Western equal temperament, incorporating a microtonally altered modal scale to evoke a Middle-Eastern sound world. This hyper-virtuosic work sees the violinist often having to employ both arco and pizzicato techniques simultaneously in an imaginative decoupling of the left and right hands. Despite its technical demands, Dystopia lends itself well to individual expression, making it an exciting addition to solo violin repertoire as a bold, dense and captivating encore or recital work.

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String Music Catalogue – June 2015

String Music Catalogue: Inspired by Virtuosos

PROMETHEAN EDITIONS

John Psathas’ Gyftiko was commissioned by the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra for the 2011 Michael Hill International Violin Competition. Psathas's first work written for solo violin, this expressive and virtuosic work is comprised of quick melismatic passages, intertwining voices, and frequent use of double-stops. As with the purposefully challenging works by Hatzis, Gyftiko is unrelenting in its demands on the violinist’s technical competency. Gyftiko translates to 'gypsy-like'; a moniker which relates to and informs both the modal and performative flavour of the work, in which some sections suggest an improvisatory quality.

Contrasting with these fiery works is Vincent Ho’s quaint Morning Song (2009) for solo violin, which captures a moment of inspiration triggered when the composer witnessed the sun rising. The unpremeditated nature of this experience is illuminated by way of fluid, timeless gestures for the violin, and results in a beautifully crafted moment in time, rich with color and emotion. Extensive use of glissandi and occasional microtonal inflections inject a unique suppleness into this exquisite 'morning song', making it the perfect choice for a reflective highlight in recital programmes.

Cello Works Originally written for cello and orchestra, Vincent Ho's Nighthawks (2000) is also available for recital performance as an arrangement for cello and piano. Nighthawks was written in homage to the renowned American painter Edward Hopper. In writing this work, Ho took inspiration from Hopper's painting of the same name that depicts a solitary New York cafe at night. Ho's musical interpretation of Hopper's Nighthawks is highly captivating with his use of expressive glissandi, molto vibrato, trills and ricochets in the cello part. These effects come together in conveying a

sense of loneliness, evoking an imagined environmental sound world to accompany the painting. The sweetness of the cello’s upper register is used to carve out tender, rising passages, generating subtle swells of melancholy, while the lower reaches of the instrument bring out the dark night of the soul in low, searching moans. The piano part is treated with similar expressivity, using quasi-improvised sections and rubato.

Another work for cello that takes inspiration from imagery is Gareth Farr’s Shadow of the Hawk (1997) for cello and piano. There are hints of Farr’s characteristic Balinese influence in this work, along with echoes of Prokofiev and Shostakovich. The music is pervaded by a continual sense of forward momentum, which builds from the opening as the cello’s syncopated pizzicato groove rides atop urgent running lines in the piano’s lower register. Rhythmically-driven melodic material emerges and is exchanged between the instruments, before a quieter, more expressive middle section provides an interlude, with glimmering trills in the cello’s upper register set against gestural waves of notes in the piano. The tension mounts as the music accelerates and returns to the material of the opening, and then charges to an aggressive finish.

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…It’s rare to find a composer who is able to sustain and develop intensity as effectively as Farr. He catches the listener’s ear right away with unfamiliar scales and angular rhythms. But these choices aren’t alienating - the way he introduces this unconventional vocabulary, the way he weaves the story, draws listeners into the spellbinding tale. There is enough of the expected to engage audiences, but the constant evolution keeps them on the edge of their seats.

The symmetrical diminished scale that is the harmonic backbone of the piece may be familiar to jazz players and fans of such Romantic composers as Ravel and Debussy. In this piece, it sounds otherworldly, adding to the supernatural flavor of the story. Despite all this unusual vocabulary, Wakatipu is truly violinistic. It’s certainly not easy, but the piece’s technical demands are within the reach of any good violinist. Wakatipu should become part of the encore repertoire.

Sergey Malov the 2011 Michael Hill International Violin Competition winner performs Gyftiko by John Psathas.

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‘It’s a gem of drama and adventure, just like the story that inspired it.’ Gareth Farr – Wakatipu for violin (PE093) received a 5-star review from Strings magazine

Extract from Strings magazine by Mimi Rabson, Berklee College of Music, July 2012

String Quartets String Quartet No.1: The Awakening (1994) is one of Hatzis’ landmark works and winner of the 1998 Jean A. Chalmers National Music Award and the 2006 Juno Award for Classical Composition of the Year in Canada. It was commissioned by and premiered by the renowned Smith Quartet. The St. Lawrence String Quartet later performed the work extensively and recorded it for EMI Classics. This innovative work features highly dramatic and engaging interplay between live string quartet and a digital audio part, supplied on an audio CD. The digital audio part contains samples of Inuit throat-singing, steam locomotion (which comprised part of the composer’s childhood experience) and electronic textures that weave through the quartet’s intense material.

String Quartet No.2: The Gathering (1999) was commissioned by and dedicated to the St. Lawrence String Quartet. At nearly 40 minutes in duration this is one of Hatzis' monumental works and showcases his eclectic style. It draws influence from a variety of sources including elements of American minimalism of the 1960s, Brazilian tango, and dance music of the Balkans and Middle East. This is a standout work that is sure to enhance the repertoire of professional string quartets.

Mondo Rondo (1997) is one of Farr’s most widely performed chamber music works. It is immediately engaging due to its combination of exotic melodies and percussive, funky rhythms throughout three contrasting movements. Farr incorporates a clever use of the ensemble with hocketting pizzicato, in which individual notes in a tune are shared and passed between players. Farr combines this pizzicato with subtle ‘body percussion’ (by tapping on the string instruments), evoking the unique sound of the m’bira (African thumb piano).

Also drawing on musical styles outside of the traditional classical realm is Psathas’ Kartsigar (2005) for string

quartet. Both movements of this work began as transcriptions of recorded performances by two of Greece’s living master-musicians, clarino player Manos Achalinotopoulos and percussionist Vagelis Karypis. The transcriptions are based on two separate recordings of a traditional taximi entitled Kartsigar. Taximia form part of an oral tradition where improvisation played an important role. Songs always began with an instrumental prelude, the taximi, in which a musician displayed his prowess. This set the mood for the song to follow, and could last for as long as 20 minutes.

In addition to non-Western musical influences, Psathas has also looked to non-Western philosophies, beliefs and practices for inspiration. Abhisheka (1998) for string quartet was drafted immediately after Psathas read a book by the Tibetan Buddhist guru Chögyam Trungpa. Psathas recalls of Abhisheka: “This was my first-ever attempt at writing music with space in it. Until this piece, practically everything I had written was ultra-caffeinated, fast, full of notes, and murder on the performers. But having been (albeit temporarily) inspired by the great truths and peace in Trungpa’s writing, I found myself navigating slower passages of musical time, as well as exploring the microcosm of inner space between the even intervals of our tempered chromatic scale.” Abhisheka embraces the suspension of time, with the only sense of rhythm or pulse coming from periodic chordal swells whose pitches are often solely comprised of quarter-tones. This harmonic material becomes blurred by slow glissandi, creating dizzying harmonic hues. The temporal space between these swells gradually contracts and expands, and is filled with sensual solo lines rich with flickering microtonal inflections. In 2008 Psathas created an arrangement of Abhisheka for string orchestra, with the larger ensemble complementing the vast expanses that the work evokes.

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KARTSIGARJohn Psathas

Unbridled, Manos Breathes the Voice of Life into Kartsigar

ISMN: 979-0-67452-172-7

Kartsigar © 2005 John Psathas

This Edition © 2013 Promethean Editions

This excerpt from Psathas’ Kartsigar for string quartet evokes the exotic and virtuosic improvisations of Greek folk musicians, bars 11-14, p.1 (PE176S).

John Psathas – Kartsigar

String Music Publications

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CODE COMPOSER TITLE DUR. PP ISMN FORMAT PRICE

PE065 Béla Bartók Viola Concerto (ed. Erdélyi) (Viola & Orchestra) 21:25 100 979-0-67452-096-6 Score NZ$120.00

PE066 Béla Bartók Viola Concerto (Erdélyi restoration) (Viola & Piano) 21:15 60 979-0-67452-060-7 Score and Part NZ$60.00

PE011 Lyell Cresswell Whira (Violin) 19:30 19 979-0-67452-061-4 Performance Score NZ$25.00

PE126 Gareth Farr Meditation (Viola & Piano) 6:45 12 979-0-67452-151-2 Performance Set NZ$44.00

PE033S Gareth Farr Mondo Rondo (String Quartet) 12:00 49 979-0-67452-201-4 Score NZ$52.00

PE033P Gareth Farr Mondo Rondo (String Quartet) 12:00 56 979-0-67452-202-1 Parts NZ$60.00

PE016 Gareth Farr Shadow of the Hawk (Violoncello & Piano) 10:45 21 979-0-67452-062-1 Performance Set NZ$50.00

PE093 Gareth Farr Wakatipu (Violin) 6:00 12 979-0-67452-132-1 Performance Set NZ$27.00

PE040 Ross Harris Music for Solo Cello (Violoncello) 6:00 8 979-0-67452-065-2 Performance Score NZ$25.00

PE119 Christos Hatzis Coming To (Violin & Piano) 3:15 15 979-0-67452-208-3 Performance Set NZ$34.00

PE121 Christos Hatzis Dystopia (Violin) 4:00 12 979-0-67452-212-0 Performance Score NZ$29.00

PE117S Christos Hatzis String Quartet No.1, The Awakening (String Quartet) 21:45 42 979-0-67452-198-7 Score NZ$60.00

PE117P Christos Hatzis String Quartet No.1, The Awakening (String Quartet) 21:45 42 979-0-67452-199-4 Perf. Set (Parts and CD) NZ$69.00

PE107S Christos Hatzis String Quartet No.2, The Gathering (String Quartet) 39:45 60 979-0-67452-187-1 Score NZ$64.00

PE107P Christos Hatzis String Quartet No.2, The Gathering (String Quartet) 39:45 60 979-0-67452-188-8 Parts NZ$60.00

PE015S Matthew Hindson Chrissietina’s Magic Fantasy (Two Violins) 9:15 14 979-0-67452-066-9 Score NZ$25.00

PE015P Matthew Hindson Chrissietina’s Magic Fantasy (Two Violins) 9:15 14 979-0-67452-067-6 Parts NZ$40.00

PE047 Matthew Hindson Lament (Violoncello & Piano) 8:00 11 979-0-67452-069-0 Performance Set NZ$50.00

PE155 Vincent Ho Morning Song (Violin) 3:30 7 979-0-67452-143-7 Performance Score NZ$29.00

PE160 Vincent Ho Nighthawks (arranged for Cello and Piano) 9:23 19 979-0-67452-186-4 Score and Part NZ$47.00

PEP12 Larry Pruden Flight of the Albatross (Violin & Piano) 2:45 7 979-0-67452-166-6 Performance Set NZ$29.00

PEP11 Larry Pruden String Trio (Violin, Viola & Cello) 23:00 30 979-0-67452-154-3 Performance Set NZ$67.00

PE175 John Psathas Abhisheka: String Orchestra (String Orchestra) 9:00 15 979-0-67452-153-6 Study Score NZ$44.00

PE028S John Psathas Abhisheka (String Quartet) 8:45 16 979-0-67452-046-1 Score NZ$35.00

PE028P John Psathas Abhisheka (String Quartet) 8:45 16 979-0-67452-047-8 Parts NZ$60.00

PE173 John Psathas Gyftiko (Violin) 5:00 5 979-0-67452-145-1 Performance Set NZ$29.00

PE176S John Psathas Kartsigar (String Quartet) 13:00 14 979-0-67452-172-7 Score NZ$39.00

PE176P John Psathas Kartsigar (String Quartet) 13:00 14 979-0-67452-173-4 Parts NZ$80.00

Promethean Editions Limited • PO Box 10-143, Wellington, New Zealand • P +64 4 473 5033 • F +64 4 473 5066 • info@promethean-editions.com Publication and Promotion of New Music Gareth Farr, Christos Hatzis, Vincent Ho, John Psathas Publishers of New Editions of Bartok, Lilburn, Pruden, Vaughan Williams